I recently made pizza completely from scratch and all my kids did was complain about the fact there was no garlic butter like we would normally get with chain pizza. Are there any good store bought brands or quick\easy ways to make it for them?
Thank you so much! For some reason I just assumed it was much more involved than it is! My kids are grateful!
Garlic powder in melted butter (or olive oil) is not bad.
Better if you finely mince some fresh garlic and put that in some melted butter (or olive oil).
(Store bought stuff usually has too much salt in it.)
A little dried oregano in it adds a nice flavor to it.
Make your own - several people have put recipes here already. It's great for kids to see that they don't need processed or ready-made foods, that they have the ingredients here in the house. In fact, you can start them helping you in the kitchen with real pizza, real garlic butter, etc.
Do they like the fried zucchini you can get a pizza places? I saw a great recipe and it's a delicious and healthy snack by itself or with pizza. Cut zucchini spears or disks (I think the disks are easiest.) Pour some olive oil (light or EVOO) in the well of a plate. Mix up a combination of Parmesan cheese (I use the real shredded stuff, not the powdered stuff in the jar) and panko bread crumbs (you can use whole wheat or regular bread crumbs). If you want to add ground pepper, do so. The Parm cheese is pretty salty so you don't need to add that. Dip the zucchini disks in oil, both sides, then dip in the cheese/crumb mixture, then put on a baking sheet. If you have extra crumbs, sprinkle on the top of the zucchini once they are in place on the sheet. Bake at 375 or whatever temp you are using for the pizza, until slightly browned - usually about 10 minutes depending on what else is in the oven. They are crispy and better than the deep-fried version - also much cheaper. You could also do this with yellow squash, couza squash, and similar varieties. It's a great use for "day-old" zucchini if you don't want to make a zucchini bread or anything else elaborate.
I take a few heads of garlic and cut the pointy end off so that all the cloves have an outlet. I put the on a cookie sheet when cooking something like a roast. The garlic cooks through and Carmelizes. Once cool to the touch, it can be squeezed out. Chop if you'd like, mix into softened butter, add herbs if you want. I put mine in Tupperware in the fridge, but if you want to be fancy about it you can shape it into a roll or loaf, wrap it in wax paper and freeze for quite a bit. It lasts for about a week in the fridge if it isn't eaten first.
Mince garlic. Add to olive oil (can do 50:50 EVOO and butter) and warm in microwave (carefully). If you like you can grind a touch of sea salt over it once it is warm but it's not really necessary.
Buy a pound of butter, real butter, unsalted is okay. We buy salted.
Put a chunk of it in the microwave for 18-20 seconds. Melt it slightly. Add some garlic powder to it. Still it well, taste it. Is it garlicky enough? If not add a tiny bit more. Then when it's time to serve microwave it again for 10 seconds at a time until it's the consistency you like.
No reason to buy garlic butter, it's 2 ingredients.
Sometimes you can just go to the pizza place and buy, that garlic butter.
Which is in those little round containers.
It's easy to make - melt butter - real butter, not margarine. Squeeze a few cloves of garlic through a garlic press into the butter - how much depends on how strong you want the garlic flavor. I use three or four good-sized cloves per stick of butter. Voila - garlic butter!
I bought some from Whole Foods that was good. It was in a refrigerator case.
